“Subsidiary rights” usually refer to the right to exploit the book in other media. Pretty much any use of the book other than to sell copies of the book is a subsidiary right. Some lawyers would call these “derivative works” but in the literary world, they are subsidiary rights. Some examples include: Serial rights. This …
What are subsidiary rights in a literary publishing agreement? Read More »
Generally speaking, a media perils insurance policy protects the policyholder from lawsuits for libel and various intellectual property infringement claims. If the holder of the policy is sued for a covered claim, the insurance company would pay legal expenses to defend against the lawsuit and also pay any monetary damages or settlements related to the claim. …
In a previous post, I wrote about what an “advance” is. In short, it is a payment up front that is an advance against the future revenue streams for a book. What is a “good” advance? A cynical answer to this might be “any advance is a good advance.” That is a reflection of the …
What is a good advance in a literary publishing agreement? Read More »
Royalties are probably the biggest part of an author’s publishing agreement. The section can read like a list of jargon-heavy terms that, unless you’ve looked at one of these agreements before, might as well be a foreign language. Generally, the royalty rate paid to an author will be based on the list price. The amount …
What is the author royalty rate in a literary publishing agreement? Read More »
An “advance” in a publishing deal is similar to an advance on future payment in any other context. That is, it is not just a check written to an author in advance of the deal like you might think from the name. It is an advance-on-royalties. Meaning, the amount the author gets in the advance …
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Odin Law and Media will be among the exhibitors at this year’s NCWN Fall Conference in Wrightsville Beach this weekend. The conference features networking events, educational sessions, master classes, critiquing services and more. It should be a great gathering for North Carolina writers. Brandon J. Huffman will man the Odin Law and Media exhibitor table …
Join Brandon J. Huffman at the NC Writers’ Network Fall Conference Read More »
A “libel reading” is a form of content review where an attorney is reading a book or passage specifically to assess the risk of libel. What is libel? Libel is a published false statement damaging to a person’s reputation. So, the attorney is looking for statements that would, if published without revision, be damaging to a …
Content review is when an attorney reviews your creation for potential legal issues. Legal content review for an author generally involves a reading of the article, story, book, etc., marking up any sensitive passages or excerpts, then discussing them with the author at length to vet the sourcing and evidence. Content review for film and tv …
Getting an agent is hard work. You wrote a great book. You spent hours researching the perfect agent to query. You toiled over every word in that query before sending it off. Then, rejections came pouring in. Or worse, crickets. Stephanie Meyer (of Twilight fame) sent out 15 queries before getting an agent. Some authors send many, …
5 important provisions in literary agent agreements Read More »